This 12-lesson unit includes inquiry-based lessons about the surface features of the Moon and the Earth and how these two worlds formed and continue to evolve. Students participate in real science as they help lunar scientists map the surface of the...(View More) Moon with MoonMappers, an online citizen science project that lets the public analyze real data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The lessons in this unit follow the 5E instructional model. Includes an overview of citizen science, glossary of lunar feature vocabulary, alignment to NGSS and NSES, and featured links. Each of the lessons addresses different topics and can be used together as a unit, or independently.(View Less)

This is an activity about cause and effect. Learners will investigate various online sources to find data and other pertinent information regarding reported effects on Earth for the solar events they identified in the previous activities in this...(View More) curriculum set. Then, they will summarize their findings for this activity as part of the overall Space Weather project. This is Activity 13 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum.(View Less)

This is an activity about observing and mapping sunspots by direct solar observation. Learners will use a small telescope, binoculars, or a Sunspotter to create a projected image of the Sun and trace the position of any observed sunspots on a piece...(View More) of paper. Additionally, learners will mark the direction of the Sun image’s motion. This is Activity 2 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum.(View Less)

This is an activity about cause and effect. Learners will calculate the approximate travel time of each solar wind event identified in the previous activity in this set to estimate the time at which the disturbance would have left the Sun. Then,...(View More) they will examine solar images in an attempt to identify the event on the Sun that may have caused the specific solar wind episode. This is Activity 12 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum.(View Less)

This is an activity about solar rotation and sunspot motion. Learners will use a sphere or ball to model the Sun and compare the observed lateral motion of sunspots to their line-of-sight motion. This is Activity 1 of the Space Weather Forecast...(View More) curriculum.(View Less)

This is an activity about searching online data archives for solar wind events. Learners will find at least three episodes of increased solar wind activity impacting Earth using direct measurements of solar wind velocity and density. Then, they will...(View More) characterize each events by its rise time, the time it takes for the solar wind speed to rise from normal levels to the peak speed of the event, and the percentage increase in solar wind velocity. This is Activity 11 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum.(View Less)

This is an activity about the period of the Sun's rotation. Learners will use image of the Sun from the SOHO spacecraft and a transparent latitude/ longitude grid called a Stonyhurst Disk to track the motion of sunspots in terms of degrees of...(View More) longitude. Using this angular motion measurement, learners will then calculate the sunspot’s angular velocity in order to determine the rotation period of the Sun. This activity requires access to the internet to obtain images from the SOHO image archive. This is Activity 4 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum.(View Less)